MERVYN Fleming, who had led the Severn Area Rescue Association at Beachley and Newport for the last ten years has stood down.

He is succeeded as chairman by Ian Roberts, a SARA volunteer since 2015 and an operational member of the lifeboat, cliff rescue, and land search teams.

Mr Fleming, who was 70 last year, announced last year that he would be stepping down and has now formally handed over the tiller to Mr Roberts.

Mervyn has supervised the deployments all the Beachley and Newport callouts, liaised with the emergency services, and dispatched the appropriate SARA crew and equipment.

As a volunteer himself, he nearly always travelled to Beachley Station to run the control room operation and remained on station until all of his crew were safely back.

In tribute, Mr Roberts said: “Mervyn has done a great job for a number of years and will continue to support SARA in the future.

“It’s an honour to be elected as chairman and I know that we face several challenges, the most fundamental of which is funding our activities.

SARA executive chairman Chris Crowley also expressed his gratitude to Mervyn and added: “He has been tireless in developing the capability of search and rescue across the area, leading the progress of inter-agency co-operation and liaison arrangements.”

PICTURE CAPTION: HANDOVER: Mervyn Fleming hands over the reins of the Severn Area Rescue Association to Ian Roberts, watched by the rescue organisations’s executive chairman Chris Crowley.